Kristy's Project
by Golden Snitch1981
Summary: Kristy's Dad walked out on her Mom. Now Kristy needs a Dad just as much as Mary-Anne needs a Mom. Can they get Richard and Elizabeth to notice each other? Can they get the pair to fall in love?
1. Matchmakers

When I was David Michael's age, my Dad walked out and I never saw him again. He and my Mom fought all the time before he left. I guess Sam, Charlie and I hoped that having David Michael come into the family would renew my parent's love for one another. Mom and Dad must have thought that too. The fighting only intensified as Mom grew more and more stressed and Dad grew more and more absent from the family until one day he just walked out. David Michael was only just out of Diapers by this stage and it was up to all of us to help raise him, include me, Kristin Amanda Thomas or Kristy to my friends.

My friends are Mary-Anne Spier, who lives next door and Claudia Kishi, who lives across the street. We all live on Bradford Court. Claudia is Japanese-American, has both her parents and her genius older Sister Janine, living with her, until recently her Grandmother, Mimi moved in to help care for the girls, now Claud's mom has returned to work. Mary-Anne is an only child who lives with her strict dad. Her mother died when she was a baby.

Mary-Anne is my best friend. We look so alike that we pretend sometimes that we are sisters. We've both got brown hair and brown eyes and a are small for our age, although Mary-Anne is almost three inches taller. Mary-Anne are so different it's amazing that we are even friends. She's quiet and shy, while I'm boisterous and outgoing (Claud sometimes says I'm bossy). She likes reading and playing with her dolls, while I like Baseball, Softball and everything else that requires me to be outdoors.

The one thing we had in common (other than our looks) is that we both like Claudia and think she is the most interesting person we know. Claudia is really good at drawing and Mary-Anne and I both know that she is going to be a famous Artist one day, even if her parents don't agree. Mr and Mrs Kishi's main aim for Claudia is that she at least makes it through school, preferably with a B-Average or Higher, but Claud just isn't interested in school and usually only gets a C if she's lucky.

Now Mary-Anne and I have another thing in common. We both only have one parent left. That's what gave me the idea. I hated seeing my mom sad all the time and I knew my dad was never coming back. It's what Charlie and Sam always say and I gave up hope long ago of seeing my dad again. Mary-Anne's dad never went out on dates. It seems he never really got over losing Mary-Anne's mom.

So for Valentines Day I decided I would set them up, you know, on a date. Mary-Anne was thrilled and hoped that her dad would loosen up if he had a steady girlfriend and what better girlfriend could Richard Spier have than Elizabeth Thomas? We had been watching the Parent Trap, one of Mary-Anne's favourite movies when the idea popped into my head like my ideas usually do. The wheels of the Kristy Thomas Ideas Factory were set in motion and I blurted it out to Mary-Anne.

"I've got it!" I cried.

"Got what?" Mary-Anne was confused as she dabbed the tears away from her eyes with a Kleenex.

"Your dad. My mom. Valentines day...." I was rolling my hand in a forward motion, hoping Mary-Anne would get my drift.

Mary-Anne sat up suddenly. "Let me get this straight! You want my dad to go on a date with you mom?"

"Why not? They'd be perfect for each other!" I cried, hoping Mary-Anne would agree.

"Well I guess my dad has been so sad an lonely, just like your mom. It would be good to see them happy together for a change." She stood up and was rewinding the tape in the VCR. I gathered up the remaining popcorn in the bowl and shovelled it into my mouth. "Emmwajhajhwunvesosic!"

"Sorry, what was that?" Mary-Anne asked, going green around the gills. Mary-Anne has a very weak stomach. I love grossing her out. I suck my pop-corny tongue out and she grimaced, desperately trying not to think of puking. Having got the reaction I was hoping for I swallowed and spoke again. "And your dad won't be so strict!"

"That's true! He won't be worried about me so much, because he'll have your mom!"

That night, by Torchlight, we hatched the plan that I was sure would be our best project ever.


	2. Phase One

"Dad, Kristy's brother, Charlie is playing starting quarterback this Friday night! Isn't that great?" I exclaimed, hoping my dad would for once see things the way I do. We were eating an early dinner, before he was to return to his study to catch up on some work. The people at Dad's firm say he's the best lawyer they have working for them. That's why they give him the most challenging cases, like the one he was in the middle of. Dad shields me a lot from his work, but I've been to his office once or twice. He doesn't take me there very much, because he says its not the place for little girls.

That's why he brings a lot of work home, so I don't to spend time at the office waiting for him to finish up for the day. In the afternoons, Mrs Pike babysits me until Dad picks me up. Then at home, he fixes a light dinner and I help him mix the salad. We sit together and eat, just like we were doing that evening.

"Wow! That's great! Good on him!" He replied, his enthusiasm, barely rising. "You must pass my best wishes on to Kristy, to tell Charlie."

Honestly, for a big-shot Lawyer, my father can be pretty clueless. I had to think fast if I was going to pull this one off. "Dad, Kristy wants me to go with the Thomases to watch him play. Can I?"

"May I, Mary-Anne," Dad corrected my sentence.

"Dad. May I go and watch Charlie's game, at the Middle School, with Kristy?" I asked, emphasising the "May I". I looked up at him with my best pleading eyes.

"I didn't know you liked Football, Mary-Anne." He was smiling. I knew that was a good sign.

"Please Dad," I pleaded

"I'm not too sure about you going without an Adult, Sweetie. Football games can get pretty rough." The deliberation was written in his eyes.

It's not that my Dad doesn't like me to enjoy stuff. Losing my Mom has made him pretty protective of me. He just doesn't want to lose me, too. I knew that, but no matter how much I would try to convince Dad that I'll be okay, he just can't let me out into the wide world without him. I'm still not allowed to sleep over Kristy or Claudia's houses for a night, but only recently, Dad started letting Kristy sleepover at our house. That was where we were when we hatched our plan to set my Dad up with Kristy's Mom.

"Maybe, I could take you," he suggested. I fought back an excited squeal.

"Really, Dad?" I exclaimed, biting my lip, as I do sometimes when I'm nervous or really excited.

"Sure, why not!" he answered. "It's been years since I got to go to a game. Not since I was in College."

I threw my arms around him, happily. "Thanks Dad." When dinner was finished, I helped him load our dishwasher and like every other night, I retreated to my room to do homework.

Before I started my homework however I went to my window, which looked into Kristy's room. Just as we planned, Kristy stood at the window, waiting for the news, hopping from one foot to the other impatiently. I held up a single thumb, smiling, gleefully. Immediately her face broke into a grin and she was hopping around squealing, happily. I was doing my own fair share of joyful jumping, but I was careful not to make a sound. Then I gave her a quick wave and settled into my homework, barely able to concentrate on the math problems in front of me. I couldn't wait for Friday, to see if our plan works. Kristy was still squealing and jumping around and every so often I would look out the window and smile at my best friend. Phase one was complete, with out a hitch.


	3. The Game

We settled into the bleachers at the SMS – SDS football game. Mom and Richard had been happily chatting away and Mary-Anne's gleeful grin was matching my own, I was sure. Sam had rushed off to find some of his friends. Sam was in the fifth grade and as far as he was concerned, he was not going to be caught dead hanging out with his mother and his daggy little. "Are you sure, he'll be alright?" Richard asked.

"He'll be fine. I can see him, right over there." Mom pointed and I followed her finger to where Sam was high-fiving another fifth grade boy I remembered. Then I watched him saunter up to a preppy Asian girl with glasses. "Oh my God! Is that Janine Kishi?" I gasped, jabbing Mary-Anne.

"Where?" she asked, but soon she saw exactly what I was seeing. He blushed as he spoke to the girl with the page-boy hair cut, but then walked away, dejected, minutes later.

"I think he just asked her out," Mary-Anne whispered.

"I guess she turned him down, too. Janine isn't interested in anyone, living!" I laughed. I pictured Janine hesitantly saying yes to a date with Dickens, so long as he agreed to bring along one of his novels so she could show off how brilliant a reader she was. "Besides she's way too old for him!"

"By only one year," Mary-Anne disputed.

"But she's in the seventh grade!" I exploded.

"I think it's romantic," Mary-Anne sighed.

Speaking of romance, I snuck a glance at our project as the whistle blew for the game to commence. Mom was houting encouragement to Charlie every single play as Richard watched on silentlyLike a gentleman, he held all the popcorn and drinks as Mom stood, to holler at Charlie as he was headed for a touchdown. "That's my boy!" she screamed, jumping on the spot and clapping enthusiastically as he scored. Richard smiled, but I could tell he was like a fish out of water. I knew they needed help, but I needed a chance to chat to Mary-Anne about it without Richard and Mom, hearing.

"Mom, I need to go to the bathroom," I said.

"Me too," Mary-Anne chimed in, her voice, barely audible.

"You wait here, Elizabeth. I'll go with them," Richard suggested, a little too eager to get away from the game.

We followed Richard out of the stadium, almost running to keep in step with him. "Are you enjoying the game?" I asked.

"Sure," he said, stiffly.

"My brother's really good, isn't he?" Richard nodded. "He's going to be a star, one day. I just know it," I bragged.

"I'm sure he will," Richard agreed.

We finally reached the bathroom and Richard pointed to the hot-dog stand. "I'll be right there, girls. Don't be long."

Yes, Dad."

"Okay, Richard," I said, beaming up at him. It was then, that I realized how tall he was.

We disappeared into the bathroom and right away I grabbed Mary-Anne's arm. "We have to do something! I don't think it's working."

"Like what?" Mary-Anne asked. We thought, silently for a few minutes.

Then I was hit with another idea. "Does your Dad like Pizza?"

Mary-Anne nodded.

"Good, we'll say we're hungry. Mom always falls for it." Mary-Anne had a puzzled expression so I knew I had to explain what I was thinking. "If it all goes to plan, we'll go out for pizza and Mom and your Dad can get a chance to sit down, somewhere, where your Dad will feel comfortable and get to know each other."

"Kristy, that's brilliant!" Mary-Anne exclaimed and I knew she was finally on the same page.

"Now flush," I ordered and we each went into a stall and flushed the toilet, for the benefit of Richard's ears, in case he could hear us.

We rushed out to meet Richard, who was reading the menu board. "Are you hungry, girls?" he asked.

"Not really," I answered, nudging Mary-Anne, making sure she knew not to jeopardise the plan.

"No thanks, Dad," she answered, shaking her head, vigorously.

"Good girl, Mary-Anne," I thought as we followed Richard back to the stadium. I winked at my best friend and she returned the wink.

My stomach was aching for that pizza, but my heart was aching more, for my plan to work.


	4. Love Triangles and Pizza

In my lifetime, I had never known any of Kristy's ideas to fail. Even the ones that looked like they would bomb, Kristy seemed to figure out a way to make them work. So when Kristy suggested we hound them for Pizza, I knew this was one plan she was not going to give up easily on.

As the end of the game signal sounded and Charlie Thomas was scoring the last touchdown, Kristy turned abruptly to her mother and began to whine about being hungry. "But asked them before if they wanted hotdogs, they said no."

"Hot dogs? Seriously Richard!" Kristy pouted. "Besides, that was hours ago! I wasn't hungry then, were you Mary-Anne?" I shook my head. "Mom can we get pizza?"

"Well I do believe a celebration is in order since Charlie's team won." Kristy's eyes looked like they were surely praising her mother for going according to Kristy's plan, even if she didn't know what that plan was. "How about it, then, Richard Why don't you and Mary-Anne come too?"

"Please, dad, can we?" I pleaded.

"May we, Mary-Anne," Dad corrected me.

"May we?" I repeated, hoping he would say yes. Kristy and I both screamed with glee when he did.

"Pizza it is!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Charlie and Sam met us at the bottom of the bleachers and we all headed to our cars together. Suddenly Claudia was tapping on my shoulder. "Hey Mary-Anne, I heard you guys were going for Pizza. Do you mind if Janine and I come?"

"Sure, Why not? Wichard do you mind bringing them?"

"I guess so," Dad agreed.

"Mom, can I ride with Mary-Anne and Claudia?" Kristy asked.

"Sure!" Elizabeth answered.

"So Claud, why the sudden interest in going out for Pizza?" Kristy asked brashly, eyeing Janine.

"Well," Claudia Whispered, huddling close to us, "Janine has a crush on Charlie."

"I heard that Claudia and no I do not!" Janine piped up, but her cheeks were glowing red.

"Well then why are you blushing?" Claudia teased. "And why do you have I luv Charlie all over your books?"

"Stop it, Claudia or I'm telling Mom!" Janine warned.

I have to admit it was weird to see Claudia's super-brain sister fly off the handle over a boy, especially when that boy was my best friend's gross older brother.

"Girls, give it up, okay," Dad warned. The last thing I wanted to do was make my Dad mad.

We arrived at the Pizza place and after we met up with Kristy's mom and brothers, we all crammed into a booth. Janine strategically made sure she was sitting next to Charlie, who seemed oblivious to her presence. Poor Janine, I thought. However Janine was soon forgotten as the pizza was order, finally after deciding on two half-halves to save fighting over what toppings to put on it. Dad and Kristy wanted a meat lovers, Chalie, who was going through a vegetarian phase wanted a vegetarian supreme, Claudia Janine and I wanted ham and pineapple and Elizabeth and Sam wanted a supreme.

Before we started eating though, Dad proposed a toast to the star quarterback of the winning football team and we all clinked our plastic cups of coke. Then we dove into our slices.

So Dad, you should tell Elizabeth what your favourite movie is," I suggested, nudging him in the ribs.

"Mary-Anne, I'm sure Mrs Thomas doesn't want to hear about that," he objected but Elizabeth was already curious.

"Sure we do, Richard. What's your favourite movie?" she asked.

"Don't laugh, but... it's South Pacific." It was Dad's turn to blush.

"Oh, my God! Me, too!" Elizabeth cried and with that there were no more awkward silences, well between my Dad and Kristy's mom, I mean. Janine however was so quiet, next to Charlie. Sam however was doing his best to impress her.

"Sam, knock it off!" Charlie hissed. "She's not interested in you."

"That's because she like Charlie!" Claudia teased.

"I do not!" Janine cried, hoping Charlie would notice her blushing. Charlie was still mentally replaying his last touchdown.

"That was sure some touch down," Kristy said as if reading her brother's mind, "wouldn't you say, Janine?"

"Leave it, Kristy!" Janine retorted.

"Yeah, Leave it!" Sam repeated. Honestly, Sam must have had it bad for Janine.

That was pretty much how it went the whole time. Claudia and Kristy teasing Janine about Charlie and Sam sticking up for her in hope that she'd notice him and the whole time Charlie was in his own world. Best of all was Dad and Elizabeth seemed to be hitting it off, finally.


End file.
